Roanoke
County officials are asking for the public's help locating a
woman who was last seen in January.

Joan Renee
Cook, 45, left her home in Roanoke County the evening of Jan.
24, according to Roanoke County detective J.D. Clark. She was
reported missing Jan. 31.

Clark said
the adult woman was last seen wearing a red sweater, blue
jeans, Timberland shoes and a black jacket. Cook is described
as being 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 120 pounds.

Clark said
Cook was reported to have left her home on foot, noting that
"there is no known vehicle information."

Anyone with
information is asked to call 540-777-8636.

America's
Most Wanted:

A rainy,
cold winter night doesn't make for ideal walking conditions,
but it was that kind of evening when Joan Renee Cook left on
foot for a friendís house, never to be seen again.

The 45-year-old
mother -- married for 22 years -- walked away from her Salem,
Va., home at approximately 11:45 p.m. on Jan. 24, 2010. The
temperatures dipped in to the low 40s that night as rain
showered Roanoke County.

"It was
very evident that she loved her 7-year-old daughter
immensely," says Detective Andrea Morris of the Roanoke
County Sheriff's Department. "Why hasn't she contacted her
daughter?"

Officials
tell AMW that Joan left her home with her wallet, house keys
and a duffle bag containing clothes and cosmetics. She does not
have driver's license, according to police.

Cops say
Joan was on her way to a friend's house and that her friend was
out of town. Police say there's no evidence indicating whether
Joan made it to her friend's house alive. That friend has been
fully cooperative with law enforcement's efforts to locate her.

Adding to
the mystery: Her cell phone has not been used since she
disappeared, and police tell AMW her bank accounts are
untouched.

Investigators:
"We don't know what to suspect."

Missing Mom
Has 2 Distinctive Tattoos

Joan was
last seen wearing a red sweater, blue jeans, a
black jacket and Timberland boots.

She stands
at 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs around 120 pounds.

Joan also
has two distinctive tattoos that should make her easier to
find. The first is a frog which she has inked on the middle of
her lower back. The second is a "bracelet" of flowers
that encircles one of her ankles.

"We
don't know what to suspect; we don't know if she was just
trying to get away or what," says Detective Morris.

If you have
any information on the whereabouts of Joan Renee Cook, you need
to call our Hotline immediately at 1-800-CRIME-TV.

Charley
Project.Org

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing
Since: January 24, 2010

from Salem, Virginia

Classification:
Endangered Missing

Date
of Birth: February 2, 1965

Age:
44 years old

Height
and Weight: 5'6, 120 pounds

Distinguishing
Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Cook
may go by her middle name, Renee, or the nickname Renny. She has a tattoo of a frog on the
small of her back and a tattoo of a flower bracelet on her
ankle, and her ears are pierced. Cook's pinky fingers are both
bent inward at the last joint.

Clothing/Jewelry
Description: A black jacket, a red sweater, blue jeans, low-top
Timberland shoes, a gold ring with her initials
"JRC" on her right hand and a gold watch on her left
arm.

Medical
Conditions: Cook had been taking anti-depressant medication for
years prior to her disappearance.

Details of Disappearance

Cook
was last seen walking away from her home on Elderwood
Road in Salem, Virginia at 11:00 p.m. on January 24, 2010. She
was en route to a friend's house, but the friend wasn't home at
the time and it's unclear whether Cook ever arrived there. The
last contact with her was a cellular phone text message sent
six hours later, at 5:00 a.m. on January 26. At the time, she
was at the third Salem exit southbound on Interstate-81. She
has never been heard from again. She wasn't reported missing
until January 31.

Cook
had been married for 22 years by the time she went missing.
It's uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning and
abandon her young daughter. She was carrying a purse, wallet,
house keys, a green duffel bag
containing clothes and makeup, and a beige toiletries bag at
the time of her disappearance. Since she went missing, her
cellular phone and bank accounts have not been used. Her case
remains unsolved.

Crystal Gail Soles disappeared
on 1-24-05 from Andrews, South Carolina. She remains
missing, and her case remains unsolved.

Teresa Lynn Butler was abducted
from her home in Risco, Missouri on 1-24-06.
She remains missing, and her case remains unsolved.

Comments From Bonnie M. Wells

I
learned of Joan Cook's case on September 29, 2010.

I
do have a suspect, and will furnish full information to law
enforcement. Contact me via email. Include department
information; name and phone number for verification:

Research

The Violent Criminal
Apprehension Program (ViCAP) is a unit of the
United States Federal Bureau of Investigation responsible for the
analysis of serial violent and sexual crimes, organizationally situated
within the Critical Incident Response Group's (CIRG) National Center
for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC).

The pattern that links serial
homicides is what is commonly referred to as "signature".
VICAP operates under the knowledge that serial homicides are almost
always sexually and control driven with a consistent evolving signature
present in each murder.

In the summer of 2008, the ViCAP program made their database available to all
law enforcement agencies through a secure internet link.